Rafa enraptured by Spurs switch

Rafael van der Vaart described Tottenham as "a beautiful club" after completing his Â£8million move from Real Madrid on Wednesday.

PUBLISHED: 07:21, Thu, Sep 2, 2010

Rafael van der Vaart [PA]

The 27-year-old was in as much of a daze as Spurs fans after the Premier League sanctioned his whirlwind transfer from Real Madrid with hours to spare.

Van der Vaart, deemed surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu, told De Telegraaf: "Four years at Spurs, for 11million euros, I can hardly believe it myself. The interest from Tottenham came very quick and I did not have much time to think. But I want to play football again and if possible every week, with a beautiful club. I'm totally happy."

He added: "I am excited about playing in England. Whether it suits my style remains to be seen, but I think a good footballer can adapt and I am very proud of this transfer."

Spurs had been sweating on clearance to bring the Holland midfielder to White Hart Lane after technical difficulties hampered their efforts to submit the relevant paperwork for the signing before Tuesday's 6pm transfer deadline.

But after investigating the club's claims that there were difficulties involving computer servers used in the transaction between themselves and Real, the Premier League ratified the move.

That allowed Tottenham to announce the signing less than two hours before top-flight clubs had to submit their 25-man squads for the first half of the league season.

Manager Harry Redknapp had claimed Van der Vaart had been set to join Bayern Munich for Â£18million on Monday until the move broke down.

However, that was categorically denied yesterday by Real, with sports director Miguel Pardeza telling his club's website, realmadrid.com: "It is absolutely false that Real Madrid received a 21million euro offer from Bayern Munich for Van der Vaart.

"In fact, the German team never showed an interest to sign the player, so the allegations made in England have greatly surprised us."

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